Tolerance of Brassica nigra to Pieris brassicae herbivory

Abstract

Black mustard, Brassica nigra (L.) Koch, is a wild annual species found throughout Europe and fed on by larvae of the large cabbage-white butterfly, Pieris brassicae L. We examined the impact of herbivory from P. brassicae, a gregarious herbivore, on B. nigra grown from wild seed collected locally. In greenhouse studies, the response of B. nigra to four herbivore densities in two developmental stages of the plant was quantified by measuring leaf damage, plant height, days to flowering, silique number, and seed production. Pieris brassicae readily attacked B. nigra leaves, although the timing of the attack did not affect seed production; attacked plants produced as many seeds as as nonattacked plants. Plant height was affected when plants were attacked early, but not later, in development, suggesting a connection between their belowground zone of influence and ability to regain biomass. These results demonstrate that at the herbivore densities and timing of damage studied, B. nigra tolerates folivory from Pieris brassicae through compensation.

Implications of local-scale productivity on compensatory growth in a semi-arid shrubland

“…Our results agree with several studies demonstrating the ability of plants to fully compensate for simulated grazing in grazingdominated systems (e.g., Biondini et al, 1998;Blatt et al, 2008). As in most drylands of the Middle-East region, the Yatir forest, and especially its annual plant communities, has a long history of intensive livestock grazing (Perevolotsky and Seligman, 1998), which might have selected for differential responses of plants to grazing under different productivity levels (Osem et al, 2002).…”

Plant Fitness Assessment for Wild Relatives of Insect Resistant Bt-Crops

“…These studies, and the small scale field study of Strauss et al [62] on wild radish are not inconsistent with our fitness results if plants in these protected conditions rarely suffered mortality or if seed output was calculated only from plants that lived to reproduce (rather than including zero seed production for plants that died as juveniles). Blatt et al [63] suggested that an increase in stress through multiple attacks by herbivores, simultaneous damage by pathogens, or poor growing conditions may curb tolerance to herbivory and allow herbivores to exert measurable fitness effects on plants. In our study, early mortality resulting in zero seed set and aborted flowers resulting in plants with few seeds were important factors in explaining the overall very strong effects of herbivory (or release from herbivory) on average lifetime fitness per plant.…”

Effect of different cole crops on the biological parameters of Pieris brassicae (L.) (Lepidoptera: Pieridae) under laboratory conditions

“…Females lay batches of eggs on their host plant in the spring. Caterpillars emerge and feed on the host plant as a group until the late fourth or early fifth instar when they disperse over the plant (Blatt et al 2008). At the end of the fifth instar, they begin wandering off the plant in search of a pupation site.…”

“…At the end of the fifth instar, they begin wandering off the plant in search of a pupation site. The number of eggs per batch can vary from seven to 105 (Kristensen 1994;Blatt et al 2008), but on average there are between 30 and 50 eggs per batch (Feltwell 1982). It is an oligophagous pest with a wide host range and is known to infest 83 species of food plants belonging to Cruciferae.…”